Over a decade after the first iPhone was released, jailbreaking is alive and well, but for how long? Earlier this week, the ZodTTD/MacCiti jailbreak repository was closed down and now we have another to mourn, with the ModMyi (now called ModMy) repository having also been archived.

ModMy recommends that developers looking to host their tweaks should do so via the BigBoss repository, leaving that repo as the only major player remaining.

The loss of two of the big three jailbreak tweak repositories within a few days of each other is perhaps something that has been on the cards for a while now. With interest in jailbreaking still around but with the lack of public jailbreak releases, the potential upsides of running a popular repository are simply not enough to keep the likes of ModMyi or MacCiti around.

While jailbreak tweaks continue to be released, many of the most popular ones over the years have now been made redundant thanks to Apple’s continuing effort to build iOS into the best mobile operating system around. With more power-user features such as multitasking and the like having been added natively over the years, the only real reason users jailbreak nowadays is for heavy interface customization.

Recently, in an interview with Motherboard, Cydia creator Jay Freeman spoke of the decline in jailbreaking thanks mainly to the lack of any real need to following enhancements to iOS.

“What do you get in the end?” he asks. “It used to be that you got killer features that almost were the reason you owned the phone. And now you get a small minor modification.”

“That turns into, like, a death spiral, where when you get fewer people bothering to jailbreak you get fewer developers targeting interesting things, which means there’s less reasons for people to jailbreak,” he added. “Which means there’s fewer people jailbreaking, which causes there to be less developers bothering to target it. And then you slowly die.”

And as mentioned earlier, the free public jailbreaks themselves have begun to dry up as well, with those capable of hacking iOS devices from the ground up now choosing to accept big bug bounties (including from Apple) or sell exploits rather than release them to the public as free jailbreaks. There’s also the fact that people can now simply sideload apps not allowed on the App Store without having to jailbreak the device. Previously this wasn’t possible and incited many to jailbreak.

Earlier this month, KeenLab demonstrated an iPhone X jailbreak, based on the latest version of iOS, but they are likely to sell off the exploits rather than release them as part of a public jailbreak.

It’s certainly a sad day for the world of jailbreaking. But we have no doubt that a public jailbreak for iOS 11 can certainly turn things around. Lets keep our fingers crossed!

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Jailbreaking will be dead for me the day i will find ways to spoof my location flawlessly…its the only reason why i jailbreak as the ways of modifying map files to add simulation though does some of the job it doesnt stay on permanently until you switch off like fake location app in cydia does…

looni pineda

Developers are greedy!!!! IOS 11 jailbreak can be achieved but they prefer to go straight to the money,,,,,sad

MelonlordKun

Developing is a field of work. You expect them to release a jailbreak for free which will be patched with a single iOS update? It’s not worth it. I don’t blame these devs for going to Apple and taking the bounty. Their hard work pays off.

MelonlordKun

I feel the real only remaining reason people jailbroke was to get free paid applications. Most tweaks are pretty mediocre at best. And with tweak devs asking for money for certain tweaks, it turned off a good amount of their remaining audience. Jailbreaking is on the verge of death.

SPQRGuyMontag

I enjoyed developing jailbreak tweaks, but I liked having my iPhone on the lastest major firmware more. The lack of regular jailbreaks the last couple of years has killed the scene.

James

Apple sees what’s out there and then incorporates it into the next iOS. If Apple allowed GUI customizations the jailbreak scene would be no more.

Benjamin James Eric Coyle

Hide and seek champion: 2017

India Choxie

You guys are missing the point, “JAILBREAK” means to break out of the restrictions, PERIOD.

MelMa D Teach

Well, “Todo lo que sube , tiene que bajar”, <~~everything that goes up , need to come down “ , for them its de same 10 years serving on top ,all that I can say is Thank You for eveything…. same words I used when I fired some1 from the store LoL.

Kelvin Guerrero

Well Apple, and Google are waaaayyy up! And not showing any signs of coming down any time soon!

MelMa D Teach

I know da for sure, but I also know da nothing last forever..da was de main point of the Quote.

Breno

“everything that goes up , need to come down” – actually if you launch something up fast and hard enough it’ll leave Earth’s atmosphere and never come down again 😛

FrodBonzi

I love that no one wants to mention the REAL reason most people jailbreak… PIRACY…. yes, few admit it, but let’s face the truth – people jailbreak in order to get paid apps for free (or even in-app purchases for free) and that was the real reason Apple fought so hard against it…. It’s hard to get app developers to agree to fork over a % of every sale to Apple if they know a vast quantity of people will simply steal the app…

Apple makes billions from their App store and have no interest in seeing anyone else cutting in on their revenue.

Timmy

Lmao. Let’s see…spend hours and hours on finding exploits for profit…or release a jailbreak for fat, basement-dwelling, hot pocket eaters like yourself who expect free work and are too lazy to go out and learn coding yourself? Easy answer.

Andretti808

This is why Android will start to become favorable because of customizing and giving your phone “personal” character. Apple wants to keep giving you little by little for more money ANND not credit others work..Ive been with a iphone since the 4 maybe? Well that time will end with this 7 and news like this confirms people aren’t workijng for free n Apple stopped at nothing to patch exploits every time faster n faster to the point of taking fun away….

newbruclass

I 100% admit that all I care for is LocalIAPStore, nothing else, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

I have no problem purchasing the actual apps that cost $$$ as I can afford them as I don’t want to re-jailbreak every time because of the Semi-Untethered process just to redownload those Apps when I can just make a one time payment and redownload anytime I want when I have phone memory storage for it.

What I have problems on would be the ridiculously high priced items.
Only 1500 Diamonds for USD 99.99?
Heck, no.
But I won’t mind if it is maybe at least 1 million Diamonds minimum.
Thus, LocalIAPStore for the win.

vertsub

You’re right android will become favourable amongst the 0.1% of iOS users who care about GUI customising.

9to5Slavery

I just want mine with fonts that I can read. I hate seeing all those fonts on those android phones.

9to5Slavery

I pay for all my jailbreak tweaks to support the devs.

9to5Slavery

Yes!!!!!

Nino 0raham

what would be nice is that cydia pay us back for the tweaks an so on that we paid for and never got to use bcuz of no more jailbreaks no more cydia on me iphone X i had more then 25 tweaks themes paid for

Rnie Dafuq

Only thing i would like to be gone is the blurred dock.
iOS as it is right now is just perfect.
No more jail breaking for me.
We can still customize our phones with a nice background

JEmlay

That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard in a long while.

JEmlay

Nope, my #1 reason is iGG and GamePlayer.

Jb

I still continue to look forward to jailbreak, even on a non iOS platform. I love the benefits of freedom to do whatever you would like with your personal device or computer, it’s a piece of freedom to strive for.

Terryss

I hope more people would think this way, that the desire for freedom isn’ t some kind of lack of respect for the manufacturers of the device.

Terryss

It’ s like asking money back for the pizza you ate yesterday, because the day after it’ s magically disappeared.